Rogge takes look at Olympic reforms

Guidelines for cities interested in staging the 2012 Olympic Games are to be reviewed, new International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said today.

Despite introducing tough new rules to tackle corruption in the wake of the 1999 Salt Lake City scandal, Rogge is planning to set up a new Olympic reform commission to look at all the changes made by the IOC.

That could have implications for London as the capital weighs up whether to launch a bid for the 2012 summer Games.

The biggest change is likely to concern visits by IOC members to bidding cities. They were banned after the Salt Lake scandal when nine members were expelled or resigned for accepting lavish gifts in return for backing that city's bid for the 2002 winter Games.

But Rogge looks set to reinstate them. It was one of the surprise pledges made by the former Olympic yachtsman in the run up to his landslide victory in yesterday's IOC presidential elections.

In the race for the 2008 Olympics, won by Beijing on Friday, a special evaluation commission of 12 IOC members was set up to visit the five candidate cities.

They then reported to their fellow members at their annual meeting here before they placed their votes. That could be scrapped under pressure from members who resent the loss of visits and believe it doesn't allow them to make a fully considered judgement.

With memories of Salt Lake City still fresh in the mind, Rogge would be expected to ensure any future visits are closely monitored and paid for by the IOC.

However, any uncertainty over the bidding rules might delay the decision on whether London should bid or not, especially if it is thought that it will increase the cost of the exercise.

There is already a measure of concern within the BOA at the amount of money now needed to secure the Olympics. Beijing spent £35 million plus on their successful bid.

The BOA are convinced there would be strong support within the IOC for taking the Games back to London for the first time since 1948 and they have already got the backing of Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.

The Government, however, are yet to commit and are unlikely to do so until early next year.

Meanwhile, Rogge was facing a more immediate problem today.

Canadian lawyer Dick Pound, one of four losing candidates in yesterday's presidential election, accused outgoing president Juan Antonio Samaranch of abandoning his professed neutrality and working behind the scenes to ensure Rogge was elected.